Transparency is hot. Never before in debates about development or economic governance has there been such a strong focus on transparency. This has been well illustrated in the European Union (EU) over the past few months where the European Commission (EC) has taken action to promote transparency in three different arenas. One action related to private sector transparency. The European Commission proposed amendments to existing transparency requirements for companies in extractive industries. Stricter rules for mining, forestry and energy firms could improve governance in resource rich developing countries. Secondly, the EC’s new draft policy on ...
This was the theme of a roundtable discussion held by the EIB earlier this month. With the ever-increasing interest in leveraging aid with loans, the issue of how to measure impact seems a pertinent question to ask. The discussion centered on how the EIB intends to measure and monitor the impact of their investment projects, as required under the renewed mandate for external EU financing given by the European Parliament and Council. But as the discussion progressed and they presented the broad categories of indicators they plan to use, one began to wonder what they have been using up to ...
Last week, stakeholders involved in the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding have presented and endorsed an agreement on a “New Deal for engagement in fragile states” at the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan. Fernanda Faria analyses what’s new in the New Deal, its potential and some of the challenges to engage differently in fragile states. Fragile and conflict-affected countries are often rated among the poorest and least developed. International aid to these countries focuses on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and aid effectiveness, which do not address conflict, security and justice ...
No, we don’t know enough about the results achieved through the EU’s old external action instruments. But that does not inhibit an evidence-based discussion on the future instruments, which can still be revised as they are currently subject of debate between the different EU institutions. On Wednesday, the European Commission presented proposals to amend the rules guiding the spending for EU external action from 2014-2020, the timeframe of the next EU budget. In expert jargon, these rules are called “financial instruments”, and there are 10 such instruments, each for a specific area of intervention. The ...
